Chapter Text
°°°°°
She woke up to the smell of toast and melted butter.
Before getting up, she ran her feet over the thin sheets to find a cool spot. She turned her head and she saw, from the corner of her eyes, the same poster displayed on almost every other wall all across the place – a little cartoon character in a jumpsuit, making a heart with his fingers over a drawing of the United States, the caption reading 'America lives on... in you'. She had stopped finding this comic obnoxious a while ago, but she couldn’t really remember how long it had been.
Someone in the same room as her tutted gently. “No sleeping-in for Sleeping Beauty. You wouldn't want to miss the overseer's speech, right, dear ?”
She looked back at the source of the sudden noise and met the eyes of a man who might have been around his thirties. He had a strong jawline, but apart from that, she couldn’t pick up on any distinctive features – no scars, no uncanny shaped nose, nore peculiar skin tone. Even his eyes were not gleaming in any particular emotions.
He sat beside her on the bed for a moment, and kissed her lips – though, if her eyes had remained closed, she wouldn't even have noticed he did.
“Now, love, be a little grateful to your husband, and eat the breakfast he's just made for you.” His voice was calm and hushered at that moment, but she almost felt like he was trying to force something on her.
They stood at the kitchen table, eating their meal – the unremarkable man, with a fake and overplayed bliss, humming and planting agressively his fork in his plate –, when he abruptly stopped and slapped his forehead.
“Oh, silly me, I almost forgot !” he spoke with his mouth full and his eyes wide opened as he’d just remembered something important. “You have to take your special medication, honey. You know how important this is.”
She did not.
“I know you don't like the smell, but you have to take it anyway. I’m sorry.” he feigned. “You just have to make the overseer notice your efforts.” He dropped his fork to place – force – her hands in his. “And if you do, well… He might just let us have a child.”
She couldn’t picture why, but this prospect made her blood ran cold.
*
A moment later, they were pacing through a low-ceilinged corridor.
Everything and everyone were blue and yellow.
She remembered how she had once yielded to the temptation of questioning that choice, envisioning other colors as potential alternatives, such as red, had she suggested then. She couldn't quite have figured out why, but this had made the overseer and the rest of the scientists infuriated. One of them had meticulously added something to his notebook, and the next day, she had been offered a second dose of Med-Tek – “With Med-Tek a day, you take the pain away!”, the VaultBoy animated figurine had whistled again in the dining hall entrance.
For the time being, her husband invited her to join him in a hall filled with several rows of chairs. Almost all the seats were taken by so many other garish jumpsuits, it gave her an instant headache, right behind her eyes.
They sat down and had to listen through a long and nebulous speech given by an old and stern overseer. Periodically, people would clap and cheer, and she’d often follow their gesture with a slight delay and few enthusiasm – causing her husband to glance at her with concern. There was no sense in questionning the meaning of these emphatic speechs anymore.
Eventually, the speaker called a handful of people by their names, one after the other. Some stood up and went on stage, shook hands, thanked the overseer and bowed under rounds of applause – or maybe was it her overwhelming head pain that made it sound louder that it really was.
Her breath was getting shorter every minute. The environment was oppressively heavy, and as her mind was clouded, she was unable to focus on elaborate thoughts of her own. Yet, her body reacted vividly to this suffocating scene, with a sense of struggle and resistance.
The overseer called out once more.
“Dorothy ?”
No one came forward this time. Someone was supposed to, right ?
“Dorothy Clark ?” the voice echoed and insisted with a hint of impatience.
She felt her husband’s firm and rough grip on her forearm. He looked annoyed and displeased… again.
“Come on, that’s you, honey.” he spoke to her with a very tense and judgemental look on his face, tightening his grip on her arm even more.
No, it couldn’t be. It didn’t resonate with anything. It didn’t sound like her.
Regardless, she intuitively followed her husband’s directive. She stood up with apparent struggle, suddenly feeling even more dizzy and nauseous. As she was about to weave in and out of the seated people in the row, a small but tenacious core of alertness stirred within her, sounding a faint alarm, but enough to warn her to glance down cautiously at her husband’s hands. There, she saw the notebook he had just taken out, on which he was aggressively underlining two words he had written in capital letters : ‘TRIPLE DOSE’.
°°°°°
As usual, she had to blink three times, take a deep breath and crack her knuckles to start shaking these nightmares off. Whether they emerged during the day or at night, these memories always sent her into a state of anguish.
Next to her, someone was chewing loudly and voraciously on what sounded like a piece of rubbery meat. Yet, this time, her heart no longer clenched in an awkward feeling born from the vertiginous void that once had been implanted in her, as she turned back to the source of the noise. Nothing was forged and fake anymore around her. All she saw instead was Cooper munching on an iguana-on-a-stick, his chin glistening with meat juice. Struck by the sight of such a simple picture, enhanced by this very lack of artifice, she must have imagined him happy, at that moment.
As he gazed back at her, he simply handed her a slice of his own meal. She took it without a word, but did not yet deign to remove her scarf from her face, instead waiting for him to look away.
“Still hidin’ your face, sweetheart, huh ?” his low southern voice pierced the silence. “Ya know, I might have to think it’s because you’re even uglier than me, under there.” he bantered.
The sudden burst into laughter was unexpected for the both of them, but the sound of Mina genuinely enjoying his sense of humour might have made that fleeting and satisfied smile on Cooper’s face lingered just a moment longer, leaving a small crack on his usually stoic exterior.
“You’ll never know, bastard.” she replied, her laugh more softly persisting.
He chuckled and mumbled something she didn’t quite catch.
His presence alone allowed her to relax, her frayed nerves already soothing.
Earlier, she had tried to make up a reason convincing enough to justify how she happened to let Wilzig go with the Vaultie – “They took advantage of the chaos to scat off” ; “Hey, I was caught up in the fight too” ; “Well maybe you shouldn't have shot him in the foot in the first place, you savage !”… but she couldn’t be sure he’d taken the bait. If he hadn’t believe her lie, at least he didn't let it show. Or maybe, did he simply not care. After all, there was also some wisdom in the apparent detachment of doing “this sh*t for the fun of the game”, as he once had put it himself.
As for her, she felt grateful that Cooper didn’t press her more to articulate any other excuses, and relieved that she wasn’t being coerced to face him with her own, true scheme. At least, they had managed to avoid an awkward confrontation, for now.
Regardless of that, she was left in an uncomfortable position, where she had to trust Moldaver even when she hadn't gained much insight into the nature of her plan. Will Moldaver be able to say the same, ultimately ? That Mina had been trustworthy and capable, when in fact she hadn't been able to prevent the Ghoul from stopping Wilzig ?
“That will have to wait, at least until tomorrow. There will be enough to think about in the morning” she thought as a way to give herself a break. “And at least, we gained a dog, that’s not half bad.” she reflected, while looking at Cooper who was petting the dog’s head with a soft gesture.
*
It got fully bad, though, when they eventually came across the lifeless body of the Enclave scientist, on the next day. And lifeless wasn’t simply an euphemism, since there was no chance that the man would suddenly rise from the dead, life possessing him again in one powerful, wheezing breath, as – in fact – the bitch got no more head.
Cooper might have pested a little at first, but he mostly remained focused on finding an explanation for this crime scene, deciding at the same time on what to do next.
Mina, on the other hand, was utterly distraught. She kicked the Soviet satellite carcass where Wilzig's headless body was laying, and shouted a torrent of insults.
“Wow, easy there, sweetheart. I didn’t know you could get attached this quick – you barely knew the man ! Should I be worried?” Cooper jested.
She couldn’t tell him, but with Wilzig dead, her dream felt to pieces. Even if it never was certain that Moldaver's plan could have actually allowed them to change the world for the better – the world as it ought to be –, she had had to believe it.
For there was something so disgusting and utterly repulsive about having to contemplate the horror of the world, over and over again, while remaining mostly helpless about it. She had endured it, whatever the times and wherever she went. But now that the last glimmer of hope had been extinguished along with Moldaver's plan, she couldn’t fail to realise that the world as it should be simply might never exist.
Her mind buzzed with a mixture of disbelief and desperation under the cold realisation that all her efforts until then might have been fruitless. The weight of defeat pressed down upon her, making her question her own purpose in fighting for a goal that appeared to be so unattainable, in the end. What else was there left to do, then ? Why even keep going ? she contemplated, desperately.
She tried to hold back a pathetic sob, but she was too weak and too overwhelmed to have any control. A small cry came out regardless, a reflection of her inner turmoil and her shattered hopes.
“How did you do it ? How did you manage to keep going on for so long ?” she whispered, her eyes searching his face for an answer.
Cooper was just taken aback, tangled up in an uncomfortable and confused reaction. He remained quiet for a long moment, obviously not used to such display of emotions. Mina couldn’t blame him, as it was quite a disturbing outburst for her too.
“Well, isn’t this an unexpected touchin’ moment ?” he finally grinned sarcastically. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody about your emotional breakdown. You’ll just owe me one.”
She didn’t pick up on his teasing tone, forcing him to either give a good, honest answer or to keep it quiet.
“How to keep going on for so long ? Well, ya should know that already, sweetheart.” he went on. “It’s all about survivin’. You just gotta’ keep movin’. Otherwise, you might just as well be dead.”
“So you basically want nothing ?” she asked. She was truly upset and not playing around, but she didn’t burst out at him. There was no criticism, she was simply trying to understand. She needed to.
Cooper looked a bit shacken up by her question, but took some time to contemplate it. Then he raised his eyebrows nonchalantly.
“What can I say ? This world made me a survivor.” he added with a bitter smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
She paused, pondering his words.
“Well, I tried to fit in as well. And I even tried to make things better. But I guess the world didn’t work out for me, in the end.”
He casted a sidelong look at her, scanning her face as if assessing just how serious she was. He took time to consider her reaction, his features softing imperceptibly.
“Then, maybe, the world can also go on without you… sweetheart.” he paused, allowing his words to sink in. His eyes were fixed on her.
It was blunt and harsh, his voice firm… yet oddly caring. She looked up at him, surprise flickering across her few exposed features. Coming from anyone else, those words would have felt like an infuriating blow. And yet, from Cooper, they felt different to her at first, like they had a double meaning, a hidden layer of care behind his gruff exterior, leading to an original form of tenderness only him could provide. Mina’s mind began to race in a clumsy attempt to grapple the true meaning of his words. Initially, she had felt a glimmer of hope surge within her, in response to his rough yet tender tone. However, doubt and insecurity then began to creep in, and she found herself battling to interpret his assertion.
It should have allowed her to unburden herself, made her understand that she could stop for a moment without feeling guilty as if she’d just gave up on everything and everyone. He had given her the green light to take a break, knowing that the world would keep spinning just fine, and that he got her back, now. Had she not been blinded and absorbed by a veil of despair, she could as well have taken it as a praise to stand up for herself from time to time, more than for the whole humanity.
Instead, she took it as a statement of her uselessness and futility. Whether it was condemned or not, this world had deemed her unsignificant, just as the previous one already did with her.
It was a strange kind of feeling, as she couldn’t blame Cooper for implying that. Yet, she was unable to fully embrace the comfort he had tried to offer. Her own inner demons and fears were twisting his words into something harshed and more hurtful.
They stood facing each other, their eyes locked in a silent exchange. Neither of them could have put their finger on it properly, but Mina realised almost imperceptibly that it was a pivotal moment between them.
They both took off in silence. There was a lot to ponder.
*
Cooper convinced her to keep on going with him, at least for awhile. He hadn't given up on collecting what he thought was due to him, and since there was a price on the scientist’s head, he decided that he could just as well collect the bounty by precisely bringing back the head to whoever wanted it for the biggest reward.
His bet was that, for one reason or another, the Vault dweller girl had fled with the head under her arm, going off towards whatever occupations he couldn’t care less about. Mina, on the other hand, could still get something out of the girl’s whereabouts and motives, if they’d reach her in time.
As it happened, Cooper couldn't have been more right about it. Thanks to Wilzig's dog and its sense of smell, they had no trouble crossing the girl’s path again, one day as she was crouched by a lake and rummaging through her stuff. Cooper immediatly pointed his gun at her, as she tried to babble on about how the head had been swallowed by a Gulper.
Mina adressed her with a hint of scorn. “Well, I guess you shouldn’t have failed, Vaultie.”
And Cooper hit her hard with his shotgun butt.
*
A few minutes later, the two partners were hanging the young girl by her waist and her hands on a pulley, just above the surface of the lake. She obviously was not too happy about it, and rather quite offended that they were handling this situation so lightly.
Apparently, Wilzig's head in itself still had a non-negligeable exchange value – apart from the bounty on it, of course. Mina deduced that the scientist’s death may have had no major influence on Moldaver’s original plan, although the young girl didn’t seem to be really weighing up the importance of her ‘package’ at the moment. This idea immediately ignited back Mina’s willpower. “Maybe this is not over yet, after all…” she thought with a new fire in her eyes. But that presupposed she would have to get the head back, now…
“Stop, please !” the young girl begged, pleading for their benevolence. “My dad… He’s an overseer, he’s been taken by raiders, and I need the head to get him back !”
Mina was instantly annoyed at the mere mention of the social rank of the girl’s father within the hierarchy of the Vault. Overseers, she thought, were nothing more than pawns of the Enclave, acting as oppressors over other Vault dwellers – and everyone else when they dared to crawl out of their underground metal box.
“Oh, well, if her dear Baba’s an overseer, then…” she said nonchalently, pushing the Vaultie herself in the radioactive water.
Cooper gave her a glance, his expression one of mixed airs that she didn’t quite manage to pick up on. After a few seconds, he turned the pulley wheel to wind the girl up, and Mina listened through as he performed a speech about torture – it was a fine speech, she esteemed, often fond as she was of his eloquent digressions.
And they went on like that, until the one Gulper they needed to come out of the lake threw itself on the platform they were all three standing. It was tougher than expected, as they’d lost a lot, but gained quite nothing out this fight : Cooper looked fuming with anger at the loss of his vials, cruched by the Gulper’s jaws, while Mina was utterly frustrated that the monster had dived back in the water again to go digest the head.
Cooper became seriously agitated, his eyes were darting around, and he kept muttering something under his breath. Suddenly, he just decided on taking off with the girl, without giving a single explanation.
Outraged, Mina stood in front of him, hoping to bring him back to his senses, or at least get some details out of his sudden haste. Obviously both on edge, their exchange was off to a bad start to get them on common ground. Mina insisted on everyone staying, arguing that it was imperative to recover the head first.
“It’s not just about you, it’s much more important than that !” she blurted out.
At that moment, Mina regretted to feel cornered and pressured by her… what, exactly ? Her own sense of duty ? Her idealism ? In any case, it was driving her to unleash her frustrations on the first and only person she had come to form a semblance of attachment with in a long time.
Cooper’s stance became suddenly more guarded and wary, his hollowed eyes narrowing as he looked like he was trying to assess Mina’ motives.
“You know somethin’ you haven’t told me yet, sugar ?” his features tensed up, his eyes fixed and his tone resolute.
The Vaultie’s voice suddenly broke through the heated argument with a fake assurance.
“The scientist ! He… He entrusted information only to me before he died.” she started out, swinging on her feet and looking uncomfortable. “Whoever’s to take the head to the one called Moldaver cannot do so without it. That’s… that’s the plan.” She stood more firmly at the end of her interuption, looking more confident now.
Maybe was it because she had seen a way out – an opportunity to try and turn the situation to her advantage by exploiting the obvious rifts between the two partners – but she had just thrown a risky dice roll. Yet, she was rolling with advantage, and the other two stood oblivious to the bluff.
Silence.
“Oh, she’s coming with me.” Mina finally let out as an unchangeable fact. There was nothing to explain, Cooper just needed to do as she said.
“No, she ain’t. Your damn head can wait.” Cooper replied, coldly.
“Then, I’ll just get those information from her. Now.” she said, uncompromisingly.
She strode resolutely towards the girl. Her last reply was full of rather dark insinuations. Cooper stopped her short, gripping her shoulder firmly.
“You see, I can’t let you harm her, darlin’. I need her intact.”
“For f*ck’s sake, would you please stay focus ! Didn’t you want to get the bounty from the head in the first place, anyway ?”
He took a few steps closer to stare her down with an unwavering gaze. The gap between them was now almost fully closed, their bodies nearly pressed against one another. Even as the tension in the air was palpable, there was an unexpected chemistry in their proximity, an intense atmosphere created around them. Mina could feel the heat radiating from their skin and their hearts hammering in their chests, almost in unison. Something kept pulling them closer despite themselves, the words pouring out in a passionate torrent.
“You know no sh*t about what I want, bookworm. So, I suggest that you let me take the reins now, if you know what’s good for you… ” He clenched his fist firmly around his gun.
She observed the gesture, instantly recognizing the implicit threat. “Oh, I dare you…”, she gritted her teeth, leaning a few inches from his burnt face.
“Yeah ? Then, go test your luck, honey.” If his system was working just like Mina’s at this moment, then his blood might have rushed to his heart, the adrenaline flooding through him.
She’d had more than enough of his half-threats.
Her fist slammed right into his jawline with a thud. Cooper staggered backwards, his head snapping back, and he swore under his breath. He slowly lifted his eyes back towards Mina with a mixture of determination and anger.
“Oh, you’re going down, sweetheart.” he said, making it sound like a sweet promise.
“You wish.”
